Donna Mills isn’t letting anyone tell her how to look — and her fans are absolutely here for it. The Knots Landing alum, 85, responded to an Instagram commenter who told her, “You wear too much makeup for your age,” and the result is a video her followers won’t soon forget.
Rather than ignore the remark from the critic, the actress turned it into an Instagram Reel posted on April 5. The video let the visuals do all the talking — and fans could not get enough of the contrast she served up.
Donna Mills Claps Back at Her Makeup Critic in an Instagram Video
In the video, Mills — wearing a black leather jacket, a black lacy tank top, blue jeans and her hair styled in blonde curls with a mauve-colored eyeshadow look — jokes that she “didn’t get the memo.” The clip then cuts to Mills dressed in a gray wig, white button-up blouse, wire-rimmed glasses and a pearl necklace, as she questions, “Did you want me to look like this?”
“Sorry, not sorry. I like the way I look. This is my style, and style doesn’t have an expiration date,” she concludes the video.
In the caption, Mills doubled down: “I said what I said 🤍 #style #aging #makeup #clapback #armchairwarrior.”
Donna Mills’ Fans Flood the Instagram Comments With Support
Mills clearly struck a chord with her followers, who rushed to the comments section of her April 5 Instagram post to make sure the actress knew they were firmly in her corner. The response was overwhelming, with fan after fan praising the 85-year-old for standing her ground and refusing to let a stranger on the internet dictate her look. The outpouring reflected a sentiment that clearly resonated: personal style belongs to the person wearing it, not to anonymous critics.
“Donna you’re fabulous and look fantastic! Don’t ever listen to the trolls,” one person said, while a second person added, “Exactly, what makes you feel good, then let that be you for the world to see and view 👏🔥❤️.”
“I love this… you can’t please everyone. As long as you’re happy that’s all that matters. Whoever made that comment is definitely not happy with the way they look,” another person said, while a fourth person wrote, “Your makeup has been stunning since the 80s please don’t ever change!”
“I can’t believe people can be so rude. I think you look wonderful. I don’t care if I’m 80 I will wear my makeup and I will color my hair til I can’t anymore lol,” said another.
Inside Donna Mills’ Life Beyond ‘Knots Landing’ — Her Vineyard and Best Advice
Beyond her Instagram moment, Mills has been building a life that looks nothing like Hollywood’s typical script. The actress starred on Knots Landing as Abby Cunningham from 1980 to 1989, but decades after the show, she’s found a different kind of spotlight. Mills and her partner of over two decades, Larry Gilman, started Mandeville Vineyards, a crop of grapes located in her backyard in Los Angeles to make wine.
She opened up to Woman’s World about her life in an August 2024 interview, describing the vineyard as a place of peace and purpose.
“I go up there to the vineyard, which is right behind my house up on the hill, and I’m there in another dimension,” she told the outlet. “I weed. There’s trimming. There’s affixing the vines to the wire to make them grow up straight. I do that for hours and hours.”
“I just lose myself there,” she added. “You don’t even think about anything else. It’s all centered on that and it’s so good for your head to get out of everything that’s going on in the world.”
In the same interview, Mills revealed what advice she would give to her younger self.
“That’s a good question. I think of my daughter, Chloe, and what I’d say to her. I would probably say don’t stress about making it,” she said. “If you are doing everything that you can do to get there, you will. But if you stress about it, it doesn’t help you.”
At 85, Mills is clearly still following that advice — on her own terms.
